Barbara Pettitt MD
Overview
As the director of medical student education for the Department of Surgery, Dr. Pettitt has coordinated, managed, and presented a wide array of didactic courses and skills labs to medical students and surgical residents. She has enhanced the scope of Emory surgical trainees' learning experiences by spearheading the development of electronic teaching sites; devising learning objectives, instructional guidelines, and assessment checklists for various simulation training modules of the American College of Surgeons/Association of Surgical Education's Medical Student Simulation-Based Surgical Skills Curriculum; and initiating educational scenarios in trauma evaluation and management using both full-body simulators and actors playing patients.
Since joining the Department in 1985, Dr. Pettitt's tenures as chief of surgery at Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital (now Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding), chief of pediatric surgical services of the Grady Health System, and director of education for the Emory Endosurgery Unit have allowed her to encourage and influence hundreds of surgical and pediatric residents and medical students during their rotations. Beginning in 2011, she has also managed the surgery follow-up clinics that cap Emory's medical student-led surgical trips to Haiti, which are staffed by teams of faculty attendings, residents, and medical students.
Academic Appointment
- Associate Professor of Surgery, Clinical Track, Emory University School of Medicine
Education
Degrees
- Masters in Health Professions Education from University of Illinois at Chicago Medical School
- MD from Northwestern University
- BA from Central College
Research
Focus
- I am interested in medical/surgical education research. My current project is a needs assessment of >500 volunteer surgical faculty nationally (my thesis project for my Masters in Health Professions Education. I am also interested in pediatric injury prevention and school disaster planning, and medical student instructional and assessment methods.
Publications
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The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Geographic Placement of Applicants to General Surgery Residency Programs.
J Surg Educ Volume: 81 Page(s): 1198 - 1202
09/01/2024 Authors: D'Orleans CC; Hechenbleikner EM; Papandria DJ; Xiao K; Patel D; Srinivasan JK; Chahine AA; Pettitt BJ; Knauer EM -
"The Most Satisfactory Procedure in the Field of Pediatric Surgery": The History of Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis.
Am Surg Volume: 89 Page(s): 3716 - 3720
09/01/2023 Authors: Lovasik BP; Srinivasan JK; Pettitt BJ -
From the Operating Room to Online: Medical Student Surgery Education in the Time of COVID-19.
J Surg Res Volume: 270 Page(s): 145 - 150
02/01/2022 Authors: Grady ZJ; Gallo LK; Lin HK; Magod BL; Coulthard SL; Flink BJ; Knauer EM; Winer JH; Papandria D; Pettitt BJ -
Implementation and evaluation of eight virtual surgical electives for medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Am J Surg Volume: 222 Page(s): 248 - 253
08/01/2021 Authors: Pettitt-Schieber B; Kuo M; Steehler A; Dong A; Fakunle O; Manalo T; Mercury O; Simpson F; Guiss N; Studer M -
An Online Plastic Surgery Nonclinical Elective: Virtual Surgical Education in the Era of Coronavirus Disease of 2019.
Plast Reconstr Surg Volume: 147 Page(s): 726e - 727e
04/01/2021 Authors: Mercury OA; Danko D; Pettitt BJ; Thompson PW -
Implementation and Evaluation of a Virtual Elective in Otolaryngology in the Time of COVID-19.
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg Volume: 164 Page(s): 556 - 561
03/01/2021 Authors: Steehler AJ; Pettitt-Schieber B; Studer MB; Mahendran G; Pettitt BJ; Henriquez OA -
Reply.
J Vasc Surg Volume: 73 Page(s): 1112 - 1113
03/01/2021 Authors: Kuo MC; Poirier M-V; Pettitt-Schieber B; Pettitt BJ; Alabi O; Rajani RR -
Efficacy of vascular virtual medical student education during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.
J Vasc Surg Volume: 73 Page(s): 348 - 349
01/01/2021 Authors: Kuo M; Poirier M-V; Pettitt-Schieber B; Pujari A; Pettitt B; Alabi O; Rajani R -
A Strategy for Undergraduate Medical Education in Urology During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
J Surg Educ Volume: 78 Page(s): 746 - 750
01/01/2021 Authors: Manalo TA; Higgins MI; Pettitt-Schieber B; Pettitt BJ; Mehta A; Hartsell LM -
Sustained Clinical Performance During Surgical Rotations Predicts NBME Shelf Exam Outcomes.
J Surg Educ Volume: 77 Page(s): e116 - e120
01/01/2020 Authors: Tracy BM; Hazen BJ; Ward CR; Winer JH; Pettitt BJ